Juyang Huang, Ph.D

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Research Interests

My main research area is biophysics of lipid membranes. We are particularly interested in the role of cholesterol in determining the physical, chemical and functional properties of biomembranes. We investigate the cholesterol-lipid-protein interactions using both experimental and computational techniques, which include fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy, X-ray diffraction, light scattering, enzyme activity assays, lattice-model Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, and atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Also, we are interested in developing new liposome technology for drug delivery and biosensor applications. Our research activities are currently supported by the grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the American Chemical Society (PRF).

Selected Publications

• Ali, Md R., K. H. Cheng, and J. Huang, 2007. "Assess the nature of cholesterol-lipid interactions through the chemical potential of cholesterol in phosphatidylcholine bilayers", Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 104:5372-5377.
• Ali, M.R., K.H. Cheng, andJ. Huang. 2006. Ceramide drives cholesterol out of the ordered lipid bilayer phase into the crystal phase in 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine/cholesterol/ceramide ternary mixtures. Biochemistry 45(41):12629-12638.
• Parker, A., K. Miles, K. H. Cheng, and J. Huang. 2004. Lateral Distribution Of Cholesterol In Dioleoylphosphatidylcholine Lipid Bilayers: Cholesterol-Phospholipid Interactions At High Cholesterol Limit. Biophys. J. 86:1532-1544.
• Huang, J. 2002 Exploration of Molecular Interactions in Cholesterol Superlattices: Effect of multibody interactions. Biophys. J., 83:1014-1025.